miamiherald.com: Five fraternity brothers are set to go on trial in Tallahassee in the first case under Florida's new anti-hazing law, passed last year. Named the Chad Meredith Act in honor of the University of Miami student who drowned in a hazing incident five years ago, the law takes a mighty swipe at age-old fraternity and sorority hazing rites of passage.

Under the new law, authored by Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach, hazing that results in serious injury or death is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, even if the victim consents.

According to the police complaint with the Leon County Sheriff's Office, victim Marcus Jones was among 26 pledges taken to an abandoned warehouse in Tallahassee. There, they were blindfolded, taunted, slapped, paddled with wooden canes and jabbed with boxing gloves. By the time Jones got home, his parents would see the bloodied clothes and towels and rush him to an emergency room; he lost a pint of blood. He had a hematoma on his buttocks and required surgery, stitches and a drainage tube. Rest of Article. . . [Mark Godsey]

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» Consent and hazing from Objective Justice
What happened to the good old days when adults could consent to and be held responsible for their own decisions? Apparently down in Florida college kids are just too dumb to be responsible for their actions when they consent to something. This makes me... [Read More]